Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Poets and Poems: Thomas Kinsella and "Last Poems"


I would like to say I read this somewhere, but I didn’t. The kinds of things, and questions, you’re interested in change as you age. When you’re a young adult, life is about, well, life – dating, marriage, family, and career, and not necessarily in that order. When you older, you discover the pleasures of an art museum, and learning what Monet was trying to say with Water Lilies and what that Hellenistic statue called Running Artemis looked like with a head and limbs; tracing the family genealogy to discover whether or not your great- or great-great-grandfather really fought in the Civil War; and discovering the joy you have with grandchildren that you never had with your own children (all the pressure if off).  

It's a natural thing, I suppose. The concerns of youth aren’t the concerns of old age.

 

I was reminded of this when I read Last Poems by the Irish poet Thomas Kinsella (1928-2021). The collection was published this year; it’s comprised of the poems of five chapbooks published between 2006 and 2011, along with a selection of new (unpublished) poems, poem fragments, and revised poems Kinsella wrote before his death in 2021. 


To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.


Some Tuesday Readings

 

Not taken – poem by Kathryn Lasseter at East Ridge Review.

 

The Unique Challenges of Translating The Brothers Karamazov into English – Michael Katz at Literary Hub.

 

The Value of Bespoke Worship Songs – Tim Briggs at The Rabbit Room.

 

Three Love Poems (Sonnets) – Evan Mantyk at Society of Classical Poets.

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